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Live Review: Sofar Sounds- The Yard Theatre, Hackney Wick 07/04/15

Kicking off the first of three nights at The Yard Theatre, Hackney Wick, electronic-duo Ivy and Gold take to the stage… minus footwear. All eyes are on barefooted singer Rachel Wilkinson, a vision of Ivy and Gold, and beat master Jamie Davis. Launching straight into their opening song, we’re met with seismic beats, scaling melodies and sirenic wails. The best way to describe Ivy and Gold is an electronic London Grammar with a darker hue. As the duo makes their way through a sublime set of old and new (stand out track is Bullets), it’s clear Wilkinson’s soaring soprano coupled with Davis’s euphoric arrangements is a winning combination. 

Next up is Yorkshire man Tom E. Morris, otherwise known as the lead singer of Her Name Is Calla. Back by popular demand, he has not once, but twice graced the Sofar Sounds stage and it’s not hard to see why. Carrying us from the softest of croons to the most cathartic of belts, Morris’s staggeringly emotive voice is one that lends itself perfectly to the acoustics of tonight’s barn-like theatre; it is rooms like this that are made for voices like his. With the addition of his endearingly honest stage talk and stunning cover of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill, Tom delivered yet another unforgettable set.

Closing the night is futuristic pop artist SAKIMA. The dark, scrawny six-foot-something Isaac Sakima has a distinctive presence before he’s even opened his mouth. With the slightly unconventional accompaniment of Sax, Synth and Guitar, there’s a unanimous sense of curiosity in the room to hear what they have to offer, and rightfully so. The combination of SAKIMA’s unique sultry tone and the bands’ dark soundscape are hypnotic yes, but it’s not just the music that holds the magnetism. Jerking around the stage like a man possessed, it is impossible to take your eyes off SAKIMA.

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Single Review: Billy Talent - Chasing The Sun

With a title shared by the likes of The Wanted and Hilary Duff, you’d expect nothing less from a song named Chasing The Sun: a clichéd lyric, sickeningly sweet melody and rigid phrasing. With the addition of Billy Talent frontman Benjamin Kowalewicz’s nasal vocals, it’s not just unambitious but uncomfortable.

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EP Review: Charlotte OC - Strange EP

Two years and two EP’s after Charlotte OC was dropped from Columbia and it feels like she never left. If debut EP Colour My Heart was Charlotte OC asking for a way back in, sophomore EP Strange is her demanding to stay.

Opening with the title-track, Strange is positively hypnotic; coupling warm luscious synths with collapsing muted beats and eerie fuzzy wails. The minimalistic production makes for a dark hue and brooding tone but provides only a small part of the allure. Centre stage is Charlotte OC’s voice, the nexus of seduction. Fluctuating between a soft, husky drawl and a bewitching wail, she lazily drags the phrases around behind her, keeping the listener in tow. In the sexy strut of Hangover, OC punctuates every word with a provocative moan, gasp or yelp, arousing the suggestive lyrics ‘I sip your love away’ with magnetism impossible to resist.

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N/U: NADINE

‘Through facing life in an honest way, only through that can you ever get out the other side’. At least, that’s singer songwriter NADINE’s writing mantra. It is this therapeutic process that has allowed 26-year-old Nadine to produce the devastatingly candid balladry that consumes her sophomore EP.

 Hailing from a small farming village in The Emmental, the Swiss-born artist grew up with her parents above their family-owned shoe store. After making her radio debut at a local station, Nadine was subsequently fired by her Boss who urged her to pursue a career in music. So, with newly produced demos in hand Nadine took a leap of faith and moved to London.

 Four years down the line and Nadine has released her second EP Exile, which, ironically, is not about the being away from her native land, but about feeling disconnected from love. Lead single This Isn’t Love is an electro-pop slow-burner, offering sweeping melodies, luscious synths and vocals as tender as a whisper. On the track Mother we hear the full vulnerability of Nadine, lyrically and vocally, as she exposes the hardship of dealing with her mother’s depression ‘For years and years I learned to struggle alongside someone else’. If that wasn’t painstakingly personal enough, her mother is sampled whispering on the track, along with the sounds of a Swiss river.

 Along with her overwhelmingly emotive songwriting and enchanting voice, it is the later addition of the electronic production that has allowed Nadine to fully express herself. The arresting combination of the former and latter has granted Nadine the rare gift of being able to transport the listener to the heart of her songs, something she has strived for since she began writing. ‘I want to be part of someone’s soundtrack. The best thing is when people can see themselves in the song’. The journey to reach the sound has been a long but successful one, which has already garnered the attention of the likes of BBC and Metropolis engineer John Davis (Adele, FKA Twigs, Lana Del Rey) who mastered the EP. Looks like Nadine’s heartbreak is about to go public.